4.5 Alexander and the Hellenistic Age

FQ: November 5 Read pages 139-140, “Cultures Combine.” 5 bullet point notes 1 sentence summary

Phillip II Conquers Greece Becomes king of Macedonia in 359 B.C. Phillip dreams of conquering Greece Through threats, bribery, and diplomacy he forms alliances w/ Greek city-states Others he conquered Defeats Athens and Thebes in 338 B.C. Has dreams of conquering Persia Assassinated at his daughters wedding Alexander becomes king at 20

Alexander takes Persia Persia was weaker under Darius III Takes Persia, Palestine, and Egypt

Alexander Advances into India Alex crossed the Hindu Kush into Northern India Faces soldiers on war elephants His soldiers are tired and refuse to go further east Alex goes back to Babylon Gets a fever, dies at 32 No leader was strong enough to take over 3 of his generals split his empire

Legacy of Alexander Most lasting achievement is the spreading of Greek culture.

Cultures Combine Across his empire, Alex founded many cities, naming them after himself Greek soldiers, artisans, citizens settled in these cities From Egypt to the borders of India, the built Greek temples, filled them with Greek statues, and held athletic events as they had in Greece Local people assimilated Greek ways and customs, Greeks absorbed theirs

Cultures Combine Alexander encouraged the blending of western and eastern ideas He married a Persian woman and encouraged his generals to do the same The Hellenistic culture that emerged was a blending of Greek, Persian, Egyptian and Indian influences

Alexandria, Egypt: The Cultural Capital Its market had Greek marble, Arabian spices, East African ivory—much variety b/c of its location Almost 1 million people Famous lighthouse—Pharos—440 ft. high He and his successors built a great museum as a center of learning. Its library had 1000s of scrolls representing the accumulated knowledge of the ancient world

Ruins of Pharos

Hellenistic Arts and Sciences Their temples, palaces and other buildings were much larger than those of classical Greece This reflected the desire of Hellenistic rulers to glorify themselves as godlike

New Philosophies Stoicism: founded by Zeno—urged people to avoid desires and disappointments by calmly accepting whatever life brought Preached high moral standards: like protecting the rights of all humans Taught that all humans were morally equal b/c they had the power of reason—even though women and slaves were not equal in society

Advances in Math and Astronomy Pythagoras: formula to determine the relationship btwn sides of a right triangle Euclid: developed the basis of geometry Aristarchus: astronomer, Earth turns on its axis and revolves around the sun, Heliocentric or sun-centered theory won’t be accepted for 2000 years Eratosthenes: showed the Earth was round and accurately calculated its circumference

Advances in Math and Astronomy Archimedes: most famous Hellenistic scientist Applied principles of physics to make practical inventions Mastered the use of the lever and pulley—pulled a ship across land

Medical Practice Hippocrates: studied the causes of illnesses and looked for cures Hippocratic oath: set ethical standards for doctors 1st do no harm